THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 9, 1995 TAG: 9502080225
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
It is one eclectic collection: A five-pound bag of sugar, a light bulb, a toy truck, a toy train.
All are displayed at Suffolk Museum, part of a Black History Month exhibit.
The connection? Inventions by African-Americans.
Norbert Rillieux developed a process that provided superior-quality sugar from cane while reducing production costs.
Born a slave, he became one of Louisiana's most famous engineers. But because he was black, he got no patent until many years after his invention was put to profitable use.
Lewis Latimer invented light bulb filaments, making electric lights practical for home use.
He worked with Thomas Edison and, later, with both General Electric and Westinghouse.
The toy train and truck are connected with the work of Frederick McKinley Jones, who manufactured compact, automatic, shock-proof air conditioning units for transporting foods.
Jones, who was awarded more than 60 patents, worked with the Defense Department and Bureau of Standards.
The ``African American Inventors'' exhibit features many pictures of the inventors, their biographies, stories of their creations and artifacts connected with their lives.
Among the displays are illustrations of men conquering the most adverse conditions, including slaves who worked for the betterment of whites and blacks.
Often, they had to fight for the means to create; then, in many cases, for recognition. Sometimes, their protagonists were people who benefited from their inventions.
Learning that Rillieux was not given a patent until years after his creation, then, gives the bag of sugar new meaning.
But there is another side to the coin: Several of the black inventors were helped by white friends.
Two wealthy men financed Jan Ernst Matzeliger, who revolutionized the shoe-making industry by solving the problem of attaching the uppers to the sole.
Their help allowed the inventor to form his own company, Consolidated Lasting Machine Co.
Matzeliger's invention was so in demand that his company's 225 workers were unable to keep up with the orders.
He died of tuberculosis at 37, leaving blocks of company stock to his church and to the hospital in his Philadelphia community.
In Suffolk many years ago, Robert L. Small was well known as a telegrapher for the Atlantic Coastline Railroad.
The keys he used are on display at the exhibit, thanks to his son, Holmes Small.
That exhibit is connected with the work of Granville T. Woods, who held patents on more than 50 electrical and mechanical devices, often connected with the telephone, telegraph and trains.
American Bell Telephone Co. and the General Electric Co. purchased many of the inventions of the man known as the ``Black Edison.''
Here are other examples of African-American inventions: Lewis Temple improved the whaling harpoon; Elijah McCoy invented a drip cup that ended waste and cost by making it unnecessary to stop and re-start engines to lubricate them; Garrett A. Morgan invented both the traffic light and smoke mask.
A seven-page booklet on black inventors will be given to all students visiting the museum in February.
This exhibit is sponsored by the Suffolk Art League and Suffolk Fine Arts Commission. ILLUSTRATION: Garrett Morgan
Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Linda Bunch sets up a traffic light as part of the exhibit.
AT A GLANCE
Where: Suffolk Museum, 118 Bosley Ave.
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 1 to 5 p.m.
Sunday.
Information: 925-6311.
KEYWORDS: BLACK HISTORY MONTH INVENTORS by CNB